Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Colorado Springs rockets to No. 2 on "best places to live" list

Colorado Springs ranked No. 2 in U.S. News & World Report's best places to live, climbing from No. 11 last year and bumping Denver from No. 2 to No. 3.

Topping the list was Austin, Texas, its second year in the No. 1 slot.

The news was to be lauded by Mayor John Suthers at a news conference April 10 at America the Beautiful Park.

click to enlarge

Courtesy Olympic Museum

The Olympic Museum, under construction, is set to open in late 2019.

The publication ranks cities to help readers make informed decisions when choosing where to live.
The rankings evaluate data from the Census Bureau, the FBI, Department of Labor and U.S. News' internal resources. Five indexes are used. They are job market, 20 percent; Value Index, 25 percent, which considers median annual household income and cost of living; quality of life, 30 percent, which includes crime rates, health care quality and availability and education; "desirability," 15 percent; and net migration, 10 percent.

In a news release, U.S. News reported that a booming job market and high quality of life scores pushed Colorado Springs to the No. 2 spot.

Colorado Springs might not jump off the map as an economic or cultural hub the way larger metro areas like Denver do. But in a quieter, gentler way, Colorado Springs has much to offer, including a low cost of living, a low unemployment rate and a variety of recreation and entertainment options.

Colorado Springs attracts students, professionals and military personnel to the area with a cache of military bases and nationally ranked colleges. Plus, construction in Colorado Springs is booming, with new residences popping up alongside quality schools, parks and cultural attractions.

This area, which is filled with natural wonders of its own, has the additional allure of proximity to ski resorts like Aspen and Vail without the associated steep costs of living and high levels of traffic. And even though its quaint downtown doesn't have a Bloomingdale's or Lord & Taylor, Denver's lineup of storefronts is just an hour's drive away.

Of course, locals know that the Springs has its share of problems to: a lack of affordable housing, skyrocketing housing costs, heavy reliance on military spending, a high suicide rate, a lot of child abuse and domestic violence calls, one of the highest sales tax rates in the state and what some consider an ineffective transit system that doesn't serve the entire city.